Unabashed Prelude Commercial to Save the world
Eco-Sushi- I love sushi- I admit it. I have been eating it for years. The last few years my metabolism has forced me to give up sushi due to a bad reaction. Even if I didn’t have to give up sushi for reasons of dietary pain, I would have to consider giving a much of it up.Why you might ask? Because of Eco-friendly considerations. Some fish that are used for sushi are coming from fishing grounds that are so badly contaminated, that they are down right poisonous. Other fish have been so badly depleted that they are barely sustainable as a species.
Don’t get me wrong, if you love sushi, you should enjoy it, but you should eat it with intelligence. The Environmental Defense Fund publishes a .pdf Document that is formatted both for your pc or your smart phone
Educate yourself about sushi you eat. When in doubt, ask your sushi chef about the origination of the fish he/she is using to make your sushi. Forewarned is forearmed to protect you and our environment
Complete Sushi Eco-Ratings List from the EDF
Now back to my story. This post is another interlude in my story of diving with this posting. I decided to drop in to the Neutral Bouyancy Dive Club meeting last week. NB is a dive club affiliated with NorthShore Aquatics, a LDS in Northport, NY run by Mike and Joe. Haven’t met Joe yet, but Mike is a likeable guy, and they run a tight dive shop. Their Dive Master (or Mistress) is Lisa Morreales who also runs the Dive Club events. I have not gone on one of her dives yet, but I am sure she runs solid dives, as well.
Anyway, last week’s meeting was all about technical diving. But not technical/military like you and I think about. This was about historical diving. Diving in a couple hundred pounds of canvas and rubber and metal tethered to the surface for air. If you have ever seen the movie Men Of Honor (starring Cuba Gooding Junior and Rober DeNiro), that’s what we are talking about here. Life and Times of Master Chief Billy Sunday and Diver Carl Brashear
The guys from the Historical Diving Society brought in a Mark V diving apparatus.
The Mark V was state of art for the US Navy from the late 40s to the early 70s. In reality this Diving helmet was designed before 1800 and first started being tested by the Navy department as early as 1916. If a ship needed a propeller repaired, a hull plate needed electric welding in the water, or a deep water salvage operation had to be done, these were the guys for the job. If Seal Team Six are the super soldiers, then these Diver Dans are the Marine Corp of Civil Engineers Extraordinaire.
Dive Master Lisa was the guinea pig or rather, dress up dolly for the evening. Our two visitors from the HDS, Bob Rusnak and Jerry Takasc were going to be her dive team. They were going to dress her down in the gear. Bob was one of the last Navy Diver Classes train on the Mark V in the early 70s.
To give you and idea of the scope of one of these rigs – just the boots weighed in at 30+ pounds a pair. The weight belt weighs in at a tidy 80 pound for the light version- complete we are topping the scales at over 200 pounds dry weight. While this was considered a dry diving environment, it was anything but dry. The suits leaked. It took 3 people to get a diver suited up, and from beginning to end, they had 5 minutes to readytheir diver to enter the water.
Suiting up Lisa took about 20 minutes. By the time they dropped the diving helmet on her head, it had become patently obvious that there had to be complete confidence and reliance between these divers and their dive crew. There was no such thing as getting out of that suit without the assistance of the dive crew. You were bolted and secured fully into the rig. When the maskplate was closed you were entirely dependant on the umbilical cord that would supply air from the surface. There is no pretense here. This is work, diving in the Mark V rig. Very dangerous Work.
The Rig that Lisa was fitted into was a fully working dive rig. And truly vintage. The Helmet was manufactured in Brooklyn, in 1943. In one year that will be 70 years old. And while this is not yet used for commercial or naval service, this is still a working dive rig. This suit and helmut have not retired. Just 2 years ago Bill Pfeiffer of Long Island Divers Association was dressed down in this Mark V rig. Bill then dove the south shore of Long Island in this rig for a film that was presented at Beneath the Seas Diving Expo at the Meadowlands in NJ, 2010. The film can be found on YouTube if you want to check it out.
If you are interested in learning more about this fascinating subject of Vintage Diving check out the Historical Diving Society website (www.hds.org). If you happen to be in the florida keys, on Islamorada Key, stop in at the History of Diving Museum
82990 Overseas Highway Islamorada, FL 33036-3600 (305) 664-9737 |
They have the largest collection of Vintage diving through modern diving systems in the world and is worth a couple of hours. your kids will love it!